Beta-adrenergic blocking drugs and parasympathomimetic drugs are different drugs indicated for the management of ocular pressure. The therapeutic goal in using these drugs is to lower elevated intraocular pressure, and each of these drugs seeks this result by different physiological activites. For example, beta-adrenergic blocking drugs lower intraocular pressure by decreasing aqueous humor formation, while parasympathomimetic drugs lower intraocular pressure by increasing facility of outflow of aqueous humor from the eye. See Handbook of Ocular Therapetuics and Pharmacology, by Ellis and Smith, 3rd Edition, 1969, published by C. V. Mosby Company, St. Louis, Mo.; and Physician's Desk Reference for Ophthalmology, 1978/1979 Ed., published by Medical Economics Company, Oradell, N.J.
These drug solutes, because of their different physiological activities and the different amounts needed to produce the desired therapy, presently are administered topically to the eye in separate dosage forms, commonly as eyedrops for the management of ocular pressure. Also, the drugs posses different physical activities that lead away from their manufacture into an ocular system. For example, the drug solutes, expressed as the drugs and their ions, would in a polymer matrix imbibe fluid and form solutions having saturated concentrations in equilibrium, which actions seemingly preclude adjusting the osmotic pressures of the solutes by varying their ratios for dispensing different amounts of each drug as needed for therapy.
The use of these ophthalmic drugs should however, be predicated on factors that lead to good therapy. Such factors include providing an ocular system for concurrent drug administration for jointly using their drug activities, and providing a method for their concomitant delivery for producing the needed therapy. Yet, the prior art has not presented ocular pharmacology with neither a system, nor with a method for using a beta-adrenergic blocking drug and a parasympathomimetic drug in concurrent simultaneous therapy. It will be appreciated by those versed in the ocular and dispensing arts, that if an ocular system and a therapeutic program are provided for concurrently dispensing these drugs according to a therapeutic program such a system and program would have a definite use and represent a substantial contribution to the art. Likewise, it will be further appreciated by those versed in the arts, that if an ocular therapeutic system and an ocular program are made available for the concomitant delivery for obtaining the cooperative benefits of these drugs for the management of ocular pressure, such a system and program would have a positive value and represent unexpected advancements in the field of ocular pharmacology.